The first clients are the hardest and also the fastest to reach if you know who to write to. In Costa Rica there is a concrete shortcut: tourism buys content every year and rarely finds professional creators outside the central valley.

Who to write to first

  • Small and boutique hotels. They need fresh material before every high season and have budgets in dollars.
  • Tour operators and surf schools. They sell experiences, and experiences are sold on video.
  • Coffee, cacao and natural cosmetics brands. They export and need to show origin and process to a foreign audience.
  • Restaurants and local diners with digital ambition. Small budget, immediate decision: the owner replies.
  • Dental and wellness clinics. Medical tourism moves a lot of money and buys content in English.

What you need before writing

Six pieces filmed. They do not have to be for clients: products and places you already know are enough. Without them, any message collapses at the first reply.

Also a price decided in advance, in dollars. If they ask what you charge and you answer "it depends", you have lost the conversation.

The message that works

Short, concrete and without flattery. Four lines:

  1. What you know about their business and since when.
  2. What you noticed in their communication: for example, that they have no vertical video of the rooms.
  3. What exactly you propose: three videos, formats, deadline.
  4. Price and availability.

Plus two examples attached or a link. Never a message without examples.

The time of year matters more than elsewhere

Write to hotels in September and October, when they are putting together the budget for the dry season. By January they have either hired or resigned themselves to having no content.

That single fact changes your reply rate more than any improvement to your message.

The English lever

If you write in English, you double your market for the same effort. Many hotels and operators have foreign owners or customers and prefer dealing directly in that language.

Say it in the first line. It is the fact that sets you apart fastest.

The offer that unlocks the first yes

For a hesitant new client, a small trial package works: two videos at a fixed price, delivered in five days. It lowers their risk and lets you prove yourself.

With hotels, be careful with trade deals: accommodation in exchange for content makes sense for building a portfolio, not when the material runs in paid media.

And in parallel, make yourself findable

A profile on a UGC marketplace with your niche, your languages and your rates gets you found by brands in the United States and Europe you would never have contacted yourself.

Where to go next

The first client is a matter of method, not luck. Our guide on how to become a UGC creator covers the rest of the path.